Running and Flying
by LilCan
Summary: The Girl is just an ordinary girl, well, in every way that matters to human society. Then The Doctor appeared, disrupting her routines and normality. But how will she react to this Timelord Alien? And how will he react to someone who's not really that impressed by him? (General disclaimers apply.)
1. Chapter 1

She was always a normal girl, insignificant, generic. Almost _too_ perfectly average to anybody who studied her closely, but she always made sure no one would ever give her a second glance.

Her clothing was that of a reasonably reserved person, yet still had a reasonably stylish look that suited a young girl in her teens. She wore her red converse and her thick quirky headbands that held most of her thick, curly brown hair back, but with her plain jeans and jumpers they only created the effect of youth and were not eye-catching.

Her skin was pale and freckly, not something to be envious of in her opinion, and she only wore minimal make-up, except on special occasions. Her school grades were only just above average, in a way that wouldn't grant appraisal nor require the offer of assistance.

In school she got along with people and had friends, but out of the necessity to look normal. Outside of school she had no job, played no sports, and didn't go out much. She went running every day to keep fit and ate healthy food; she didn't want to fall ill and have others worry about her.

She was as invisible as one could be without being mysterious to any curious eyes.

She was absolutely normal. Not memorable in any way, shape or form. Seamlessly hidden with those she's hiding from, and from any other extra-terrestrial life forms who might want to find her.

Ok, she was a little paranoid, but she kept that hidden even better.

Until one day she met a mad man, an old man in a young man's body, with the mind of a genius and the madness to match, who wanted to fix everything, discover everything, yet found chaos wherever he went.

He called himself The Doctor.

* * *

She was on her daily run, even her running clothes weren't exceptional. Just a pair of black shorts and a grey t-shirt, along with a thick headband of a bandana folded into a strip and tried around to keep her bushy hair away. She was halfway through, her iPod blaring the same five songs over and over, the only ones she could tolerate, when suddenly a man with messy brown hair and an odd look about him stumbled into her path. He even fell over.

She looked at him for a while as he collected himself. He brushed off his clothes, which looked like a cheap, blue suit, more suited to a man in his 20s than a man in his late 30s, and picked leaves and twigs out of his hair. She offered her hand and pulled him to his feet.

"You alright?" she asked him.

"Yeah!" he said dismissively, "thanks for that, had a bit of trouble with some…uhhh…let's say aliens, but don't panic." His grin was too large for someone claiming to have trouble with aliens.

She didn't really mind his obviously delusional state; it was a fun occurrence in her constantly repetitious routine. "Ok…well have fun with your alien buddies," she said before stepping around him and turning the volume up on her music. She needed to calm down and no be paranoid about the possibility of aliens in the vicinity.

"Wait," he called after her, stopping her just before she started to jog again.

_Please don't be a serial killer. Please don't be a serial killer. _She thought.

She turned around to face him again. He looked like he was searching his pockets for something.

"Have you seen my sonic screwdriver?" he asked, clear worry on his face, like a child who's lost a precious toy.

_Oh thank god he's just crazy._

She refrained from sighing. "Umm…" she looked around to see if there was anything that might resemble a screwdriver. _Yep, definitely delusional_. She saw something glint in the evening sun; it was partly hidden by the long grass at the edge of the park, where the mower didn't reach. "Is that it?" she questioned, pointing in its general direction.

The mad man followed her hand, "ooh! Yes! Yes it is," he exclaimed, excitedly running over to it and scooping it up in slender fingers. He tapped the metal stick-like mechanism on the palm of his hand to check if it was working.

The girl turned and began to walk off, desperate to leave before this man could talk to her more.

* * *

The man flicked his sonic screwdriver with his index finger, pressing a button a couple times before a blue light flickered on and a buzzing sound emitted from it. He waved it around trying to get some readings from his surroundings. It beeped and he moved it left more, then right more, trying to get a stronger reading, like one would from a metal detector.

Suddenly it buzzed louder, he looked up to where it was pointing. The girl? Maybe it was wrong; it did receive a hard whack before. He adjusted a few things by 'expertly' tapping it on his palm and flicking it. He tried again. Same as before it reacted strangely to this girl, this ordinary, human girl.

He must investigate. The previous alien problem had been sorted and he had all the time in the world to see whether something was amiss with this girl, or whether he needed to properly recalibrate his sonic screwdriver.

She was already gone by the time he decided to talk to her though, so he ran back to the TARDIS. He always found it easier to ponder over things with the familiar hum of the TARDIS around him.

She'd looked back only once. Once more than she'd usually risk though. And when she had looked back the mad man was now waving his 'sonic screwdriver' around him, like he was using it to search. This man was odd, in a way she couldn't quite justify. He was just different; and not only because he's a nut-job.

She decided she'd forget about him. People weren't really her area. She was brilliant at reading them, talking to them, lying to them, manipulating them, comforting them, helping them, destroying them; when it came to people she could do just about anything, which is why she's successfully lived on her own and funded her education with small credit card scams and nobody has ever questioned it. But when it came to being curious about them, when it came to them holding her attention, she was lost.

Was it sympathy? A mad man would deserve sympathy. Or was it the desire for friendship? A mad man wouldn't have many friends, real ones at least, and she didn't have many real ones either, so maybe her subconscious made the connection. Or perhaps she felt angry at the mad man, because after all he did interrupt her routine.

She settled with curiosity and fear. They were some of the few emotions she could identify clearly, along with few others. Over the years she's forgotten many and slowly, gradually slipped into a state of almost-apathy.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! If you have any criticism, comments, appraisals, feedback of any kind please let me know, I'll be sure to take it into account next time. **


	2. Chapter 2

Yet another band new day. She got up, showered, dressed, ate, brushed her teeth, packed her school bag, locked her one-person flat, and walked to school. She was never late. It was the same routine every morning. Often she wondered what would happen if she was to alter it; it'd been the exact same for years, maybe her body would go into shock? Maybe she'd have a nervous breakdown? She decided not to find out.

The wait before school started was boring, everything was boring in her life, she just needed some excitement, something interesting to keep her thinking, everybody here were idiots.

The Doctor ran around, pulling levers and punching buttons, trying to steady the TARDIS. All he wanted was some tea, guess it wasn't as welcomed by his beloved ship as it was by him. "So multiple wardrobes and an indoor swimming pool are fine, but this isn't?" he complained to her. The TARDIS had decided to be stubborn and stop working, he had 14 hours to kill before the full diagnostic scan and recalibration was complete. It'd go quicker if he hadn't been locked out halfway through fixing it and forced to resort to a sonic screwdriver and asking nicely to get her to comply.

He sighed and thought about what he'd do today, boredom wasn't common for him; there was always something exciting; something in need of saving or something waiting to be discovered.

He had an idea! He'd be a teacher, he hasn't done that in a while, and things always happened in schools. That's what one gets when they lock up many teenagers in a room together and force knowledge into their brains.

* * *

She walked to her first class, it was English, and she wasn't looking forward to having to put up with the teacher. She sat in her usual spot, back row third from the left. It was far enough away so that she wouldn't be in the direct vision of the teacher, and on the teacher's right hand side, which was convenient since humans always naturally look left first.

The teacher, Mrs Connolly, was peeved all the time, her heart turned to bitter ice after the messy divorce from her husband six months back, and she tended to take her own sense of self-loathing out on her students. The girl could tell this from her recently adopted ignorance for presenting herself well, the fact that she no longer wears her wedding ring and much of her jewellery, and her sudden decline in patience and motivation. But everyone else assumed she was just old and hated teaching now. Idiots.

But today the grumpy divorcee did not arrive; instead, a mad man strode into the classroom. Well, he ran, since he was late.

_I think I've finally gone crazy, now I'm seeing people who aren't there…_ she thought, stress overtaking her mind slightly.

One student piped up. "Yes! We have a relief teacher! No work!"

The girl only glanced at him, and felt happy that she wasn't crazy after all.

The mad man looked around the room, eyes scanning all the students. He didn't seem to see her. "OK kids, you get a free class today, your usual teacher left some fill-in work but I'll just write down that you all had severe illnesses or other illegitimate, but fairly believable, excuses, and you can do whatever you want," he smiled as the whole class rejoiced. Wow he definitely missed being a teacher, he could bring so much joy to so many children, and it was great.

The girl groaned inwardly before faking happiness to fit in with the rest of the class.

The mad man introduced himself, "I am the Doctor, you may called me Doctor, please be somewhat civilised today everyone." He then marked attendance, calling out every students name and noting their presence, or lack of. Her name wasn't on the list but nobody noticed. He then suggested they have class outside. Everyone once again cheered before running to the school's oval, an area with half dying grass and weeds and football goals at only one end.

So it wasn't the best school around, but she cannot hide in an expensive private school for the gifted and talented, as much as she'd like the intellectual company, and she certainly couldn't afford it with her income.

She got out her book and sat in the shade of a tree, mostly out of sight but trying not to look like she's hiding from anyone. She was four more chapters along when someone sat down beside her. She didn't look up but continued reading, she in fact made no acknowledgment of the person's presence until he cleared his throat and shuffled around, obviously trying to get her attention.

"Not running from aliens today I see," she commented, this Doctor's presence made her curious, yet he held a dominating aura around him that he seemed not to be aware of. Like everyone would follow him on a whim if he just asked.

"No…" he said thoughtfully, "my TARDIS decided to have a tantrum over 'tea.'"

"I think I understood_ half_ of that," she said. She stopped reading and closed her book with a soft snap. She knew he'd now want to expand further and tell his story, and she was happy to listen if it meant she didn't have to talk about herself.

The Doctor laughed, before launching into a long whirlwind explanation of his morning and Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. _He likes the sound of his own voice,_ she thought. She suspected he'd added some dramatic exaggerations to a couple parts, and other portions were purely his delusional mind at work. She wondered how the school had ever accepted him.

When he'd finally run out of words he asked her, "so what's your name? I noticed you weren't on the role earlier."

This surprised her and made her nervous. People don't usually notice that, in fact nobody ever noticed that. "Why should I tell you mine, when you haven't told me yours?" she smoothly replied, used to fluently talking her way out of situations.

"I told you mine, it's The Doctor."

"No that's your title, and a false one at that, you're no doctor, nor teacher."

"Well you can call me Doctor," he said, not deterred in the slightest.

"Very well, _Doctor_, I suppose you'll have to accept that I'm nameless," she said, holding her façade of apathy strong.

"Why? Who are you? Why do you hide your name?"

"I could ask _you_ the same, and you would not tell me."

"Are you an alien too?"

She paused and looked at him levelly. "You, sir, are largely detached from your sanity," she said before standing up gracefully and taking one step before the bell went to alert everyone of the end of class. Yep, perfectly timed as always. It's just routine.

Her next class was maths, and she sauntered through that with immense boredom and a renewed certainty that the human species is getting stupider every day. How they couldn't do simple algebra, she didn't know. There weren't any budding engineers or rocket scientists in her class; _that_ she was sure of.

She sat in the library during first break, she'd sit with her 'friends' but she was sure the Doctor would want to find her and interrogate her some more. It was best that didn't happen in front of other people. No need to draw any more attention than necessary. She opened her book and read while she waited.

Sure enough he wandered in and walked towards her, running his fingers along the spines of books in the bookshelf on his way.

"Books are brilliant things aren't they?" he asked, his voice holding great admiration.

"Indeed, nothing more brilliant than some murdered, compressed trees with ink all over them," she responded calmly, although she agreed with him she felt the need to prove that she could be defiant, even if it's just with words. _Why am I doing this? I'm meant to get him to leave me alone not argue with me!_

"That's one way of looking at it I suppose," he said, smiling. There was a pause as the conversation didn't go anywhere. He tried another angle. "Books are the greatest weapons in the universe."

"Fought many aliens with books?" she asked.

"In a way, yes."

"I think a knife would hurt more," she said, sounding more like her real self than the kind, normal person she was meant to be conveying to everyone. _Keep it together damnit!_

He studied her thoughtfully while she pretended to engage herself with her novel.

He spoke up, "how about I tell you about my self, and you tell me about your self?"

"How about no?" she'd already started to slip now, this mad man and his prying was annoying her, she was growing defensive.

"My sonic screwdriver picked up some readings from you, can you tell me why?"

"Perhaps the 'aliens' messed with it? Try putting your tinfoil hat back on, that might help." She stood up and began to leave.

He stood and grabbed her arm gently. She froze and panicked internally. "Wait, you think I'm crazy?"

What do you say to a mad man asking if you think he's a mad man? "Yep."

"But I'm not. Why do you think that?"

"That's what they all say, take your medication and go play with your aliens," she said ignoring his question and pulling away. She ran out the door with her bag on one shoulder.

She spent the rest of her break time in a bathroom cubicle telling herself to calm down. It had only been small snide responses, but they were enough to let her know that she was losing her grip. It'd been years since anyone had taken an interest in her. _I was so close to being normal,_ her thoughts complained,_ this shouldn't be happening._

She didn't see the Doctor for the rest of the day.

* * *

******A/N: I don't usually do these, they're annoying and you all just want to read and not deal with them...but...a certain lovely person (thedayofthedoctor) guessed some things about the girl in her _amazing_ review, and I'm so grateful you took the time to give such wonderful feedback! I hope my character is not too predictable and you're just super good at deductions, but your feedback was very much welcomed!**

**Ahem, sorry about that...if you have any criticisms, appraisals, suggestions, corrections, things you want included or excluded, something you want, just say and I'll take it into consideration.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

Tinfoil hat? Tinfoil hat? _Tinfoil hat?!_ The Doctor had sat in the library, puzzled, for a lengthy amount of time, pondering the situation of the girl. He only got up to attend to his next class before returning to the alley to wait for the TARDIS to let him in. The TARDIS didn't let him in…which is why he's now sitting on a park bench waiting for the girl to turn up.

She was very defensive, she had to be hiding something, but what? She was just a normal girl, what secrets could she have?

The girl arrived at the park for her run and saw he was waiting. Her day had been gradually improving with his absence but now she was trying to hold her tongue again. She considered just going home, but she'd come this far and was not going to let an annoying mad man ruin her routine again.

She made no acknowledgment of him and jumped over the gate to walk to another park, hoping he'd be content with letting her be. Maybe she should take tomorrow off in case he turned up at school again? This couldn't keep happening.

She heard footsteps behind her. _Nope, he couldn't let me be._ She tried to keep up her façade but it was futile; her persona shifted. Now normalcy can wait.

The girl rolled her eyes and turned around, "why are you here? What do you want?" she snapped.

The Doctor stopped and looked nervously around, "I was hoping to talk to you actually."

"No," the girl stated turning a corner.

"Wait I just want to discuss…" he stopped before he could finish, the girl was gone. "How…" he looked around but couldn't find her, he took his sonic screwdriver from within his coat and waved it around, maybe it'd sense her again. It got louder to his left, and he pointed it to the trees.

A voice caught his attention; "what do you want?"

He spun around to see the girl standing behind him.

The shock must have been clear on his face because the girl chuckled before running behind a tree. He rushed to follow her but she'd disappeared again. "How are you doing that?" he called out to the trees, looking around and waving his screwdriver about.

"Skilfully, I'd say," came a smug voice beside him. He turned to see her calmly leaning against a smooth trunk fiddling with a leaf.

"Is it teleportation? Or are you using invisibility?" his voice held wonder and curiosity, but the girl wanted him to be confused and discouraged. She disappeared behind the tree she was leaning on and reappeared from behind one in front of the Doctor.

She crushed the leaf in her fist. "What...do...you...want?" she said, her words were clear, precise and dangerous, said with and underlying tone of threat.

What did he want? He wanted answers to questions about this girl, he wanted to learn about her, he wanted to find out what was different, what made this girl so defensive, but he couldn't say that to this girl who was already very suspicious of him and now clearly _not_ who he thought, who everyone thinks. He considered her question for a few minutes. The girl patiently stood before him, her presence urging him to think and choose his response wisely.

The Doctor's words faltered in his throat, he hadn't known her for long but she had never been like this. What happened to the sweet, distant girl who'd helped him up when they first met? Who patiently listened to his story? Who called him crazy?

"I want to help," he said softly.

A sharp, bitter laugh escaped her mouth, yet it was still a delicate sound. She stepped closer to the man, "nobody wants to _just_ help _me_," she said before swiftly moving behind another tree. The Doctor spun to follow her but he lost sight of her almost immediately.

He traced the circumference of the tree and waved his screwdriver around desperately. His search for her continued further into the small forest, he searched behind trees and in every direction, venturing deeper into the small woodland, but soon even his sonic screwdriver couldn't pick us signals anymore. He headed back in the direction he hoped was that of the path.

Eventually he saw the street and ran towards it, glad to find release from the trees that were frankly making him uneasy. He came to an abrupt halt when he spotted a small figure sitting cross-legged on the path intently studying something in her hands.

"Where were you? Do you have any idea how long I was looking for you?" he said walking towards the girl.

"13 minutes and 23 seconds," she said dismissively, not looking up.

"What?"

"You've been looking for me for 13 minutes and 23 seconds," she replied, she shifted her gaze to the meet the Doctors, "took you quite a while."

"How…" he began, then he saw what she held in her grasp, "hold on, what have you got?"

"Hmm? _This_ or _this_?" she said unfazed, holding up the small object and the larger box with wires and knobs on it.

"Both," the Doctor's tone was serious now.

"Well, I believe this one is your TARDIS key if I'm not mistaken, and this one is my Proximal...Interspatial…Searching…Thing…"

"What?" the Doctor was very confused now.

"I made it myself, it also unlocks things I think," she said sounding slightly childish, she stood and tossed his key back to him.

He caught the key looking up just in time to see her run passed him. "Wait!" he called after her, he went to follow but she'd disappeared again. The Doctor looked around frantically for the girl but she was nowhere to be seen. There was only one place she could have gone. He ran.

* * *

The girl followed the blinking dot on the map on her device's screen. It was only as big as her hand and flat, like a large black matchbox. If the Doctor wasn't going to leave her alone she was going to find out everything about this mad man and see for certain whether he was a threat or just mad.

She turned into an empty alley way, it didn't have much except an overflowing skip bin and dry leaves blowing in the wind. She walked down the alley constantly checking on her gadget to see if she was heading in the right direction. She kicked leaves and an empty can as she passed a blue phone box. The gadget started bleeping and she tapped it in an attempt to fix the glitch. Then she halted mid step and spun around. _Why on earth is there suddenly a blue phone box here?_ She thought, pointing the gadget at it. She stroked her hand against the wood, circling it until she came to the doors on the front.

Time to find out if her Interspatial Searching Thing works at unlocking doors. She placed the black gadget over what she assumed was the lock, and after pressing a few buttons waited for an outcome. A pained, metallic groaning sound came from within the box. The girl inelegantly ripped the gadget off. She stroked her hand up and down the smooth wood muttering words of consolation and waited until the sounds gradually faded out. _Why am I talking to a box? _

She decided to try again and if the same thing happened she'd give up and just wait for the Doctor. She placed the box over the lock and pressed a few buttons to get a more accurate configuration. "Come on sweetie, please?" she asked the TARDIS, "I'm not gonna hurt you." This 'TARDIS' appeared to be a sentient machine, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt it. She pressed the last few buttons and prepared to quickly remove the gadget if anything unwanted should happen. There was a tense pause and then the doors opened inwards.

The girl smiled, "aren't they meant to open outwards?" she asked. The doors began to close again, "no, no, no, I'm sorry, no," she apologized putting her hand out to stop the doors closing, "sorry." She removed the gadget and stepped in.

She looked around, it appeared to be bigger on the inside and there was buttons and levers and screens on what the girl assumed to be the main control point, but that wasn't what impressed her, in fact she hardly noticed it except for a passing acknowledgment. She moved around running her fingers over the railings and walls, tracing the elegant carvings and taking in all the bright colours, all the advanced mechanics and humming life within this pretty blue box. There was a teacup on its side on the floor next to a saucer, it made the room look more domestic but obviously wasn't meant to be there. She picked the cup up and placed it on the saucer and set both on a bench she found nearby. "You're beautiful," she told the TARDIS, who responded with a cheerful hum.

She lent against an oddly shaped railing and neatened her thick headband into a more comfortable position. The doors closed with a soft click, the girl jumped a little at the sound. She concentrated on controlling her demeanour and recovering her composure, her façade mostly back in place. She was now regretting acting out.

* * *

When the Doctor arrived he couldn't help but sigh in relief, his TARDIS was still there and in one piece. He ran to the doors and scanned them with his sonic screwdriver. He took in the readings, she appeared to be fine, but something had assisted the calibrations and sped up the fixing process and…calmed down the TARDIS?

He cautiously opened the doors. As he stepped in he saw the girl calmly waiting for him, he took in the sight. "How'd you get in here?" he asked searching his pockets, he was almost very certainly sure she'd only taken one key and had returned that same key.

"Searchy Thing, remember?" she said shaking a black box in his direction. She looked up and the Doctor swore he saw guilt in her eyes, but apart from that she seemed her usual self this time.

The Doctor's attention shifted to the control station, he started flicking switches, pulling levers and pressing buttons, the TARDIS shook and he had to hold on so he didn't fall. He turned around, "what did you do to her?" he said accusingly to the girl, who seemed unmoved by the shuddering.

"Nothing," she said, she'd only moved the cup and said a few nice things, and was pretty sure that didn't have any long lasting effects on anything.

"How long have you been here?" he asked. He couldn't tell if he genuinely wanted to know, or was just asking because he felt unsure of what to say in this situation.

"5 and half minutes."

"Why are you here?"

"You wouldn't leave me alone, it was necessary to evaluate your threat risk and identify any strengths and points of weakness," she said quietly now, her mood shifted to one of regret for being so invasive.

"And?" the Doctor asked, he was curious as to this girl's opinions of him.

She quickly came up with an appropriate answer, one he'd take minimal offence to, "I like your TARDIS," she said walking towards the doors, she added, "I'll uhh...leave you alone now, I apologize for the intrusion."

The Doctor jogged to her, stopping her with a gentle hand on her shoulder, "wait," he said quietly, "come with me."

The girl studied him sternly, suspiciously. "No."

"We could travel the universe, there's so much more to see, you know what my TARDIS is capable of, remember?"

"I remember," she said, "but I can't go." Once again the Doctor suspected she had many things hidden within her.

"Can we have that talk then?" he suggested, trying to lighten the mood.

"I suppose I do owe you some sort of explanation," she conceded, "thankyou for the offer, I apologize again." She pulled out of the Doctor's grasp and went to the door, her hand lingered on the doorframe a moment as she left.

* * *

**A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating, I'm a horrible person, I won't blab about my excuses, I know you don't want to hear them, but I apologize. Thank you all for the wonderful feedback! Please tell me your suggestions, criticisms, corrections, appraisals, exclusions, alterations, anything you want, feel free to say so and I'll take it all into consideration.**


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